What is the difference between liquid and dry additives that are added to carp fishing baits? They are often made from the same components, but there is a fundamental difference: dry (powdered) additives are designed for slower washing out of the bait and work for 1-12 hours, liquid components work quickly and wash out within 5 minutes - 1 hour. So here we have a clear advantage for quickly attracting fish.

Learning from colleagues who have obtained their method fishing results, the ideal PVA mix requires both quality dry additives (or at least quality and well-absorbing pellets) and liquid additives. Let's talk about 2 types of liquids and some of the best liquid additives.

Liquid nutritional supplements for carp fishing

Food additives are those that add protein or fat. It is best if the protein components are already pre-processed - that is, hydrolyzed. One of the most popular and most well-known options is CSL (corn extract in Lithuanian). Do not be fooled into thinking that carp like CSL precisely because of its corn nature. This supplement contains at least 5 times (and in some cases 10 times!) more protein than ordinary boiled corn. It is a cheap, very effective and completely natural product that we can confidently recommend.

Other, very high-quality hydrosols are fish-based liquids (otherwise known as “Fish Hydro”, “Aminol”, etc.). In Europe, it is more difficult to purchase such products separately, so they are usually used by quality bait manufacturers as a “base” of nutritional liquid complexes. Another liquid supplement for carp, worthy of a separate mention, is krill hydrosol. 15-20 years ago, the most effective supplement on the market was considered L030, which was produced in Norway from tuna. This was a liquid that all manufacturers used and added to many of their baits. Unfortunately, this product is no longer available on the market today. However, krill hydrosol is one of the closest relatives of L030 liquids.

There are other, similar-style supplements – liver hydrosolate, plankton hydrosolate, squid hydrosolate, etc. All of them are excellent supplements for both PVA mixtures and all bait bases. Liver supplement is great for fishing for large carp and fishing in cold weather. Plankton hydrosolate is a less common supplement and is more suitable for use only for soaking PVA and baits (too expensive and too intense to be used as an additive to the entire bait mixture). Squid hydrosolate is no less attractive than the krill version, but is found less often. The most important thing when buying is to assess whether you are really buying a quality product. At least 25% of its composition should be proteins. On the market you can find names such as “krill extract”, which usually means that this is some kind of base liquid (not necessarily attractive), which has simply been supplemented with attractants. Such liquids are precisely the second type of supplements (we will discuss them in the next part of the article).

In addition to food liquids, oils are also worth mentioning. Oils themselves do not have much attraction, as they are insoluble (unless you have emulsified them using special methods, but this is already the domain of advanced users), but they gradually rise from the PVA pile and sometimes hit the carp directly in the gills. In this way, carp can “smell” the bait particles dissolved in the oil (especially spicy components – chili, pepper, citrus essential oils, etc.) and may descend to feed, although they did not plan to do so. Because of this, oils are more suitable for warm days, when carp swim in the middle layers of water without feeding. You will not make a mistake if you mix an oil-based liquid with a food-based liquid in a 50:50 ratio.

Flavored "smell" bait liquids - extracts, syrups, "slimes" and the like.

These bait additives work not through nutritional but through receptor “chemical” attraction. They are usually very strong-smelling and bright additives, especially popular with those who are involved in method fishing. Be careful – these additives are not always suitable and can be easily multiplied. You should carefully read the manufacturer’s instructions and always start with a smaller amount of the additive, increasing it only gradually.

If you are fishing in a reservoir where the average weight of living carp is up to 5-6 kilograms, you can use bright intensive additives. Which one and when to choose? It is very difficult to give an answer here, because manufacturers usually do not disclose the composition. We recommend choosing those additives that you know something more about - that they at least contain oleoresins, essential oils, flavor enhancers (for example, MSG), organic acids, etc. If you buy in a store and can physically smell the product, usually those that smell the most (or at least the aroma makes you cough or sneeze) work best. Paradoxical, but true 😊

When fishing for larger carp (8-10 kg+), such attractants can often have the opposite effect and reduce the number of bites. At least when they are used to fill the entire PVA mixture. In such cases, it is better to choose nutritional supplements and, if desired, add a little (~10-20% of the total liquid part) of attractant liquid.

There are no limits to your creativity and today we have mentioned only a few possible options for liquid additives to PVA mixtures. However, you can certainly use many other options, some of which you can find on your shelves or in stores. We hope that with each article we help you get a better picture of carp fishing!